Leopardo Construction leader valued hard work, honesty

A family man with two successful careers, Salvatore Thomas Leopardo lived by this motto and instilled it in his descendants: "If you work hard and you're honest, you will succeed."

Leopardo, a longtime resident of Elk Grove Village and Elgin and one of the founders of Leopardo Construction in Hoffman Estates and Chicago, died Friday at his home in Barrington. He was 88.

Leopardo already had been a successful writer, engineer and executive for General Telephone Corp. in Northlake for 32 years when he retired and helped his oldest son, Jim Leopardo, form the family's construction business, Jim said Saturday.

With Jim as the pioneer, Sal served as vice president of administration.

"He was very influential in the success of Leopardo Construction," his son said. "He helped mentor the young project engineers and project managers to make them all successful."

Sal was born May 5, 1930, in Chicago and attended Woodrow Wilson Junior College, now called Kennedy-King College, in his hometown. After a couple of years there, his son said, Sal married his wife, Mary, when he was 20. Their "perfect relationship" lasted 67 years.

"They were like super-glue," Jim Leopardo said about his parents. "They were really super close and had a great relationship."

Sal and Mary had five children - sons Jim, John, Gary and Mike and daughter Lynn, who died when she was 33.

As Jim and Sal built the construction business, Jim said almost any family member who graduated college got involved. Though blessed with success to the tune of 500 employees doing half a billion dollars in projects each year, Jim said the family business and the family itself under Sal never became "detached."

"We're fortunate we have one of those picture-book families," Jim Leopardo said. "We work together, we play together, we respect each other. And that was unbelievably important to my father. The family sticking together was No. 1."

Sal taught the value of hard work because he'd seen it play out in his own career and that of his father, a cracker factory worker who came to the United States from Italy when he was 16.

"I always told him that without him, I wouldn't be who I am today," his son said. "He would be the modest guy and say, 'No, you did it on your own.'"

Outside work, Sal enjoyed golf and was a member of the Elgin Country Club when he lived in Elgin for about 15 years.

Visitation is scheduled for 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. Prayers at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home precede a funeral Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Emily Catholic Church, 1400 E. Central Road, Mount Prospect. Entombment will be at All Saints Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum in Des Plaines.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Leopardo Charitable Foundation, 5200 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates, 60192.